


field of roses

by Beyond_the_Grace



Series: kindness blooms [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, GOOD CHILDHOOD, Gen, Good Petunia Evans Dursley, Good Regulus Black, Harry Potter was Adopted by Other(s), Harry Potter was Raised by Other(s), Hufflepuff Harry Potter, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Not Canon Compliant, Rare Pairings, Regulus Black Lives, intentionally lowercase
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:53:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27026155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beyond_the_Grace/pseuds/Beyond_the_Grace
Summary: summers are long hot inevitable things, here and gone in an instant but lingering for an eternity. for harry the one before his second year is full of laughter and games but he can't help but notice the stress in the letters his friends write him and the fear in his uncles eyes. still it's not as if anyone's planning anything right?summer can't last forever and the darkness is slowly crawling in
Relationships: Harry Potter & Blaise Zabini, Luna Lovegood & Garrick Ollivander, Luna Lovegood & Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom & Blaise Zabini, Neville Longbottom & Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom & Theodore Nott, Regulus Black/Petunia Evans Dursley, Theodore Nott & Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott & Harry Potter
Series: kindness blooms [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1773583
Comments: 4
Kudos: 195





	field of roses

**Author's Note:**

> i'm running out of plant references for titles, can you tell?

regulus couldn't help but feel concerned. he had his nephew back in his house after a long year of only letter updates as said nephew seemed to go through worse and worse things only for the boy to come back changed. one thing regulus had always felt pride for was harry's kindness, some days he still couldn't believe that he had helped to raise a child with so much good inside of him but he had. harry was still kind, that was something that regulus hoped would never change, but he was more wizened now. regulus couldn't help but reflect on his own time at hogwarts and coming home each year feeling tireder and more cynical. he had hoped that now the war was over their children could come home from school without that weight on them but unfortunately dumbledore seemed to get some twisted pleasure from it. there was no way that harry had not been led down that trapdoor and considering the harm that had come to the other children regulus had also begun to suspect that the old man had not been best pleased with harry's choice of friends.

friends that regulus began to see appear at his house more and more regularly. it had been after the first week that harry had asked if he could have his friends round and petunia had seemed only too delighted to host. at first regulus had been worried that iris would feel pushed aside by harry having other people to talk to and her not being the center of attention (unfortuantly the black family dramatics had not skipped a generation, paired with petunia's out spoken feminism iris had grown into a complete terror) but the second regulus suggested they make cupcakes harry had been completely forgotten by his cousin.

harry’s friends seemed to be very different from each other which was a pleasant surprise. blaise seemed to be the stereotypical pure blood that regulus had spent so much time with in his own youth, the boy was serious and had his nose in the air in a way that regulus now found funny on a boy so young. neville seemed his complete opposite, regulus was somewhat surprised at this having been aware of the longbottom’s and their usual class. neville stumbled through the fire place and instantly broke an ugly vase that petunia had bought. the boy was instantly spilling out with apologies whilst regulus struggled to not burst out laughing.

”it’s okay, daddy thinks that vase is ugly anyway.” iris had comforted the blond boy much to regulus’s horror. the glare petunia had sent him erased all mirth he may have felt.

”does he really?” petunia had asked, oh so sweetly. “i was going back into town with stella this weekend and was planning on buying a couple more.” shit. “you’re not hurt are you dear?”

theodore had been last of harry’s friends to arrive. he was a funny kid, too skinny for his own good but he also just seemed too much for his own good. he was nothing like he expected the only son of the house of nott to be but regulus didn't want to think about what the boy had seen as the son of jeremiah nott who had been at least a little bit insane at school.

and like that those three boys had made their way over to the black household more and more regularly.

* * *

neville though harry's aunt and uncle were the coolest people ever. he'd met them the year before of course but had hardly seen them due to be off with his friends and with harry's little cousin begging them to play with her. but now in the summer he saw a lot more of them when they weren't working. regulus seemed to have all the suave of the stuffy pure blood culture that neville was used to but with all the cool of his tattoos and a confidence that screamed of being happy in his life, though neville had noticed the searching worried looks that he would pin on all the boys especially when it was time for them to go home. petunia was equally cool, she too was fully tatted and she had taken them to her work once which was a quirky place with as many plants as books. petunia went on long rants about not letting anyone treat them badly but also that they couldn't treat others badly.

the summer was turning into the best neville had ever had but with that doubts crept in. the other boys were so much smarter and more interesting than he was and they were far less wimpy. he was stupid, only good with plants and he must be so annoying to be around, what with the constant breaking things. even the plant knowledge could be taken over by blaise or theo. it seemed stupid that they kept him around, i mean what did he really have in common with two slytherins and the boy who lived? those boys were going places and they'd probably see the sense in leaving him behind soon enough.

it was theo who found him sitting out in the black's garden rather than inside with the rest of them. of all of them theodore was certainly the one he had spent the least amount of time with so he didn't know how to feel about the boy sitting next to him on the bench. the boy sat next to him on the bench in silence, he seemed happy to wait neville out. neville himself wasn't sure what to do with the boy. theo was difficult, he had little time for small talk and other conversations that people generally enjoyed but whenever neville went on about plants he was the first to ask a question about it whenever neville trailed off embarrassed. that wasn't to say that theo was a nice boy because he wasn't but sometimes neville got the feeling it was because he didn't know how to be. he had never seen anyone as lost as when neville had handed him a packet of fizzing whizbees on his birthday.

"i do wonder, sometimes, what made them keep me around. them? you? all of you really." neville looked up surprised. theo had just voiced his exact question and was very pointedly not looking at the other boy. "you make perfect sense and blaise has always been so much more than anyone else, i know you see that too."

"i make sense?" neville blurted out incredulously.

"hmm, of course." it was theo's turn to look startled. "why on earth would you think otherwise?"

"you're kidding? i'm clumsy and awkward and so bloody useless at magic that it's a wonder i'm not a squib!" neville took a breath. "plus i look like this whilst the rest of you-"

neville trailed off. he couldn't quite put into words what it was that was wrong with him that wasn't with the others. he just knew it like a fact of the universe, like the moon orbits the earth neville was less than his friends. they were beautiful, they all had something about them that was all so much he could feel the pressure of it and he was sat there fumbling for the punchline, waiting for the other shoe to drop where they could realize that a fat lump like him really wasn't worth their time.

theo turned to face him then and caught his face in his thin cold hands.

"no." theo said, his eyes locked onto neville's in a violent stare. "no. you are so much. so much. you are more than what she's told you you are, of course you are. if you think for a second that i care about your appearance or usefulness you are so wrong that i can not begin to put it into words. friendship isn't about how pretty or useful a person is. it never will matter, you could be a muggle for all i care. you are so nice to everyone for no reason and so i will not accept you being mean to you. you're the nicest person i have ever met, there is so much light within you that it makes even me feel like there is light here to. we would not be us without you nev, there would be no warmth here."

neville didn't know how to reply. he felt chocked up like he could cry at any second and a voice that sounded like his uncle whispered _fairy_ in his mind.

"you belong with us too, theo." neville managed to whisper after he got some control over himself. theo shrugged slightly, obviously brushing neville off. "i swear it."

"not really, you're all too nice for me nev."

"you are nice you just guard yourself more than we do. it just means we all know that you mean it when you're nice." neville felt like he was making a mess of things but theo smiled sadly at him before dragging him back towards the house where iris was yelling something about cookies.

* * *

luna rather liked the idea of making friends. she had never had any before of course, people were uncomfortable when she spoke about the things she could see and the only person her age she knew was ginny weasley. ginny was nice enough, she didn't openly make fun of her like a lot of people did, but luna wasn't stupid. she knew that ginny didn't actually want her around. her mum used to be around and that had been enough because she was like luna and saw the things she did, her dad claimed to but she knew he didn't completely. despite popular belief luna wasn't stupid. she knew her daddy was ill and not the kind of ill that you could fix with a potion or a spell. her mum had been like her and had comforted her when people were mean. her mother was brilliant. her mother was dead.

and then it was two years later and her letter came from hogwarts and her dad didn't notice. he loved her but he wasn't there unless she spoke in riddles. there wasn't a riddle to ask your dad to take you school shopping and to see you off for your first year. there wasn't a riddle to talk to him about her mum either. thankfully there was one to get her back home to do her school shopping in england rather than trying to find the book list. so luna went to diagon alley alone. 

given the time she spent talking to olivander this was probably a good thing. he had the same sight as she did and whilst she knew he perhaps lacked some of her whimsy she still felt at home talking to the older man. she finally left as another first year entered and scurried off to the book shop to collect the large amount of fiction that seemed to be on the list. she had read a few lockhart books before, her mother had liked to read them for a bed time story after she'd gotten through the actual kids fiction. the point was that luna was happy to see she wouldn't have to buy a complete set. daddy's paper was doing well enough but she was still conscious that these texts wee expensive.

luna was too wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn't notice when she bumped into someone till she had made contact. they both got knocked to the ground, books flying everywhere and she looked up to see emerald eyes in front of her.

"sorry." the owner of the the eyes said to her, gathering both their sets of books.

"it was supposed to happen." luna replied. she didn't know why but it felt true. their was this building static in the air that told her that this was how things were supposed to go, at least in this universe. "here."

luna held her hand out to the boy who she had knocked over and placed a piece of sea glass in his hand.

"thank you." the boy said softly. "what is it?"

"see-glass, or sea-glass depending on who you ask. it helps you see things clearly if you need to, if not you'll see the dust."

he smiled and pocketed it. he opened his mouth as if to say something but a voice called out "harry!" before he had the chance. he smiled apologetically and left.

* * *

towards the end of that summer harry couldn't tell who was more stressed; him or his uncle. after the event of last year harry had noticed a lot of hushed conversations between his uncle and aunt that he had tried to ignore, nothing could quite detract from the dark circles under regulus's eyes or his aversion to water increasing. harry had also noticed his uncle spending less time at the parlour and more at home doing sketches for tattoos. all signs pointed to the fact that his uncle was nervous to send him to school, whether it was for the plot by voldemort or the risk of dumbledore's plans it was hard to say.

harry's stress came from his friends. wait-no- that sounded mean. harry was scared for his friends, well more accurately theo and neville. he and blaise had spent a fair amount of time alone discussing the other two boys and what possible ways they could help but they knew there was very little. harry had never felt so young as when he and blaise sat in his room trying to figure out how on earth to help the other two boys, especially when they weren't completely sure what they were helping with. the only relief harry got was that blaise's mother had been recently widowed so that was one less friend to worry about.

"if he could stop being so bloody proud and actually tell us something rather than hiding away with his books and cryptic comments that'd be a great relief." blaise had said during one such time. it was harder for the other two boys to get away as the holidays went on and so blaise and harry had spent a lot of time alone together. "we know something is up, he knows we know."

"he wouldn't be theo if he told us and it's not like neville is anymore forthcoming." harry pointed out. as far as he could tell neither of his friends had good guardians but both were too tight lipped to reveal anything.

"neville is though, if you know how to read him right." blaise didn't whine but harry got the feeling if he was anyone else he would be. theo was easily blaise's favourite person and so harry didn't feel any discomfort at blaise prioritizing his fellow snake more than a gryffindor. "his grandmother calls him names and corrects him all the time. i'm pretty sure she just wants her son back and nothing else would ever surfice. we know that that's about as far as it goes though, i've known theo for years and i have no idea about anything. all i know is whatever it is got worse after his mum died, and that he won't talk about her."

"i'm pretty sure neville said something about being dropped out a window?" harry pointed out and blaise sighed in fustration.

"and you didn't think to bring it up?" he shook his head. "can't we tell your uncle or something? surely the head of the black family can do something."

"i'm pretty sure half the wizarding world think he's dead. and even if that wasn't the case he still couldn't do anything."

"i hate them."

"me too."

harry rarely hated people, he never felt the need but something burned within him whenever he thought of something happening to his friends. he felt so annoyed at his own inaction but he understood that if not even blaise zabini could change anything then there really was nothing to be done for them until they did something about it. harry may not have been a gryffindor but there was something quite frustrating about not being able to be the one to save his friends. if he could he'd take both of them from their homes and make them live with him, he knew that his aunt and uncle would let him as well but he also knew his friends wouldn't. they couldn't until they were ready, he just couldn't bare the thought of something happening before that.

**Author's Note:**

> i have a very specific place i go to to help flesh out characters like theo and neville who are less prevalent in fandom/the books. i'll admit tho that its a tad weird reading old mcfly fanfics for neville's characterization (also one of the more obscure references)
> 
> xox ell  
> ps. thank you so much for the comments and kudos on the other parts. you have no idea how much each means to me<3


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